


You Don't Have To Save Everyone.

by zephsomething



Series: Surviving the War [18]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephsomething/pseuds/zephsomething
Summary: Ginny and Harry have A Talk.





	You Don't Have To Save Everyone.

**Author's Note:**

> The wikia says Florean died at the hands of death eaters while the tortured him. I disagree. Tortured yes but he told them about a summer years ago when Potter had asked for homework help over sundaes and they wondered if he might be more use alive so he survived the war.

Harry had signed up for auror training as soon as it had been offered to the children of hogwarts, a standing offer to all DA members regardless of marks. The auror’s had decided the year of fighting and occupation was enough of a resume regardless of marks. Harry’s was one of the first names on a new sort of list, Ron’s was right after, and dozens of faces and names he knew followed Ron’s.

Over the two years as an auror he’d caught dozens of dark wizards, earned new scars, and learned a lot of little things about himself and the kids who joined with him. One: They looked to him before they looked to their superiors, for confirmation of orders, for questions, for help on spells and tricks, and when they were given a task that confused them it was Harry they asked about it. Two: The new scars felt nothing like his old ones, like the letters across his hand or the branching scar on his forehead. Three: They looked out at the training rooms like they were a challenge but kept chocolate in their pockets. Four: the bigger ones and the older ones formed loose circles around the younger whenever they grouped up. Five: They were children, he’d always known this of course but it hit home again and again as they trained and fought alongside each other.

Almost unrelated to those things, he’d learned that the wizarding world seemed unable to stop whispering and hissing at his heels. So he learned how to move around diagon alley without anyone noticing, in back rooms and between buildings, and only sometimes pulled on his cloak for simple errands.

Two years after joining the aurors he’d pulled his cloak on to go get butterbeer and ice cream because Ginny was twitching around the edges, Hermione was looking at her stacks of paper like she might just light them on fire, and Ron had gone extra pale sometime during their last capture mission and his colour was steadfastly refusing to come back.

Florean Fortescue knew exactly who it was when the door chimed and it seemed like no one had come in. After all he’d helped Harry with his summer work over sundaes for almost half a summer once.

“It’s just the wind again, the damn things been off for years.” He waved a hand at the other customers, who made understanding noises and went back to their sundaes, and got a couple of cartons out of his freezer. Once they were in a bag Harry took them and left a stack of coins that more than covered costs. Florean leaned on his counter with a vague smile at no one in particular and Harry felt a warmth spread through his chest, followed closely by worry. “Take care of yourselves.”

“We will.” He whispered back before heading out the door again. His next stop was the leaky cauldron where Tom happily provided a dozen butterbeers and a warm hand on Harry’s shoulder in a dim corner where people couldn’t quite tell who Tom was talking to.

The cloak was dropped over the back of a chair and the butterbeer and ice cream were dropped on their tiny kitchen counter. Ron moved stiffly to his side to get ice cream and a butterbeer for Hermione, he was finally growing into his long limbs and big heart. Harry opened butterbeers for himself and Ginny and as soon as he stopped moving she sat in his lap like she was worried he’d leave again if she didn’t. He rested his forehead on her shoulder and left his butterbeer on the table beside their chair.

Someone who didn’t know the four of them, or even some of the people who did, would have thought that the ice cream and butterbeer hadn’t changed anything. They wouldn’t notice the way Hermione’s glare had shifted slightly, the kind she gave a tough problem rather than something she despised. Nor would they see the way Ron leaned into Hermione’s side now rather than pulling back into himself. Hardest of all to see was the ways the pinched lines around Harry’s eyes and between Ginny’s eyebrows were slowly softening into something else altogether.

None of them spoke but at some point Ron had reached out and stopped Hermione from picking up the next piece of paper, had run his thumb over her knuckles and a smile had ghosted over his face. They’d retreated to their room not long after and Ron’s snores drifted out of the room every few minutes.

“You can take a break you know,” Ginny said quietly after a few more moments of silence. Harry lifted his head and frowned slightly. “This isn’t all you are, you don’t have to be responsible for stopping every single dark wizard.”

He shook his head, trying to find words to explain the weight of responsibility that hung around his shoulders. “But I-”

“Just think about it.” She pressed a kiss at the edge of the stubble on his cheek before tucking her head into the place where his neck met his shoulder.

After a few minutes of thought he spoke again. “I’m good at this though, dueling and catching dark wizards. I’m saving people.”

“You don’t have to save everyone yourself, Harry,” Ginny said it quietly, like she expected him to disagree.

“But shouldn’t I try?”

Ginny pulled back so she could meet his eyes. Her gaze was steady and almost sad. “Is it going to make you happy?”

“Happy?” His eyebrows drew in like the thought had never actually occurred to him before.

“You encouraged me to go to all those tryouts because you knew flying made me happy.” She crossed her arms as she watched him. “You knew a career in Quidditch was what I wanted.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you want?” Her hand was over his mouth before he could get a word out. “Really think about it Harry, not about what you can do for the world or what you hope for. What do you want to do? What’s going to make you happy?”

He frowned down at his hands once she’d pulled her own hand away from his face. He thought about the last two years, about flying and appariting around the world with Ron chasing down and catching Voldemort’s supporters or other dark wizards. The only thing thinking about it made him was tired, a bone deep exhaustion that had started some time during his first few years of school and had just never gone away. He was still thinking about it as Ginny took his hand and led him to bed.

Three days after their conversation he gave in his note of resignation, he’d finish up the cases he was actively working on and then be done with it all. A handful of days after Harry, Ron gave in his resignation as well.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my writing and want to donate and help me write more there's a link on my bio!


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